CLOUDS
by thewayofkris
Summary: oneshot; -- those white puffs of condensation are all she needed to go on.


_Clouds_  
_Oneshot_

* * *

Rachel Berry – Puckerman walked out of her tiny flat carrying a sky blue envelope, encased with multi-colored streamers and balloons, while carrying a tie-dyed white rose. Her orange Vans hit against the cracked pavement lightly as all the pebbles around her feet went everywhere. With every step she took, she felt the tiny rocks under the soles of her feet. She was going to visit her husband today. She has been visiting him every day for the past year. Rachel looked at her surroundings smiling at all the little girls and boys playing around. she frowned when she remembered she wouldn't be able to have any with the person that she loved the most.

Rachel stopped at the stop light and pressed the button gently. Waiting impatiently, she rocked back and forth on her heels. She waited for the silver man to show up, with the countdown of numbers beside it. She suddenly remembered that when they used to go to the park, they would run across the street really fast, pretending that the numbers were for a bomb or for a rocket ship. Rachel smiled slightly at the memory. When she looked up at the screen again, she began walking across it.

As Rachel began walking, she ran a hand through her tangled mess of shrill locks, looking up to the sky. A smile formed on her face when she saw the cluster of white clouds in the blue sky above her. While looking up towards the sky, another memory flashed in her mind. A memory that will be there for the rest of her life.

* * *

"_you see those clouds up there, Bear?" he asked Rachel, looking down at where she was; beside him. Rachel gave him a smile from the little nick name he gave her, then looked up to where he was pointing. She shrugged and bit her lip tightly as she looked up towards him. _

"_What about them, Noe?" Rachel asked him. Noah looked up again and sighed, a smile toying around on his lips. Rachel looked up at where he was looking again, too._

"_I love them." He whispered. he looked down at her and smiled slightly._

"_Why?" Rachel asked, still looking up at the sky. It was Noah's turn to shrug. _

"_I don't know. It's just how they are. White when the sky is blue, and grey when they sky is dark. Like they are mood rings for the sky. It's also amazing how little kids can just use their imagination and pretend that one of them is in an animals' shape. I sometimes wish I was a cloud." He said thoughtfully._

_Rachel looked at him with a smirk. He looked at her confused._

"_What?" he asked her. Rachel giggled._

"_I would have never thought that you would be saying that kind of stuff in high school." She mocked him. Noah rolled his eyes. "Why though? The clouds." Rachel asked him seriously. He looked up at them again._

"_I don't know. Maybe because they have an amazing life. I don't know." He repeated shrugging. Rachel rose an eyebrow at him. He sighed._

"_They have it good. The only thing they have to worry about is the rain. They don't worry about dying, or taking care of a loved one. All they have to do is float around in the sky like nothing. I want to do that." He finished. Rachel breathed out softly, looking up at him. Noah was looking up at the sky with a troubled look on his face. He looked down at her._

"_We both know that I'll be gone in less than a year because of my illness." Rachel opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off by Noah - or Puck - before she could say anything. "Please." He whispered brokenly. "Don't talk. Just listen to me, please." He begged looking up at the sky again. Rachel closed her mouth. She looked up at him, tears blurring her vision when she saw the twinkling in his eyes._

"_I love you so much, Bear." He whispered shakily. Rachel bit her lip roughly as she held in a sob._

"_So when I'm gone," he continued, "I want you to know that every cloud in the sky that you see will be me. It means that I am watching over you every day of your time being." He said looking down at her. Rachel put a hand on his scratchy chin. He leaned into her palm kissing it softly, before continuing._

"_So when it rains, it means that I'm sad. I'll be sad that I'm causing you so much emotional pain. But when there aren't any clouds, it means that you need a day without me. But I know for a fact that that won't happen very often." Noah said chuckling. Rachel smiled at him. She leaned in to kiss his lips softly. He responded just as softly._

"_I love you." they said simultaneously; causing both of them to laugh. _

_It was one of the last happy moment s that they had before he left._

_

* * *

_

Rachel was almost in tears when she was in front of Puck's grave. She kneeled down in front of it, placing the items she was holding beside the plaque. Small tears ran down her face slowly as she traced the deep engraving.

_Noah Puckerman_

_1992-2020_

"_With every breath, we loved you more."_

Rachel bit her lip to keep her from crying out too loudly. She looked up to the sky, her eyebrows rising when she saw a vaguely familiar face in the sky. As she squinted, Rachel now knew that the face was a smiling Noah. She looked back down at the plaque and laughed a tear filled laugh. She traced the plaques words again.

"I love you, Noe." She whispered.

Her smile grew when she heard Noah's angelic voice in the wind whisper:

"I love you too, Bear."


End file.
